IE8: My opinion

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Quite frankly, if anyone asks me, I’d tell them not to upgrade to IE 8.

I went from IE6 to IE8 on Win XP Pro system (latest SP). I upgraded primarily because of a nagging problem I had in which a “phantom” instance of IE that would stay in memory and not let a new instance load (I’d have to use Task Manager to remove the old instance).

Well, IE8 may have solved this problem, but it introduced its own problems that seem to outweigh any benefits. I like the new tab feature, for example, except that when I use [ctl]-[Shift]-click to open a link in a new tab and move to that new tab, it frequently bombs-out. It just sits there for about a minute, then opens a new instance of IE instead of a new tab. The new instance is usable, but the old instance is totally locked-up and must be removed using Task Manager. This is not a rare, every once in a while thing; it happens on a daily basis.

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Are you using any browser add-ins (toolbars, helpers, …)? They are the most common cause of browser problems in general, and some have compatibility problems with IE8. So you might try running IE8 without add-ins for a while.

I’ve been using IE8 for 3 months now, both at home and at work, with remarkably few problems.

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Well, IE8 may have solved this problem, but it introduced its own problems that seem to outweigh any benefits. I like the new tab feature, for example, except that when I use [ctl]-[Shift]-click to open a link in a new tab and move to that new tab, it frequently bombs-out. It just sits there for about a minute, then opens a new instance of IE instead of a new tab. The new instance is usable, but the old instance is totally locked-up and must be removed using Task Manager. This is not a rare, every once in a while thing; it happens on a daily basis.

1.) When I see IE8 open a new instance it is usually because I have a dialog box that needs a response.
2.) Often when there are issues with a web site hanging or not displaying correctly they can be resolved by turning on compatibility mode for that site.
3.) When you have a “lock up”, have you checked Task Manager to see if there is any unusual CPU usage at the time?

Joe

--Joe

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Quite frankly, if anyone asks me, I’d tell them not to upgrade to IE 8.

Well, IE8 may have solved this problem, but it introduced its own problems that seem to outweigh any benefits. I like the new tab feature, for example, except that when I use [ctl]-[Shift]-click to open a link in a new tab and move to that new tab, it frequently bombs-out. It just sits there for about a minute, then opens a new instance of IE instead of a new tab. The new instance is usable, but the old instance is totally locked-up and must be removed using Task Manager. This is not a rare, every once in a while thing; it happens on a daily basis.

1. Why are you blaming IE8 (like many do for almost everything/anything Microsoft) when millions are not having your problem?

2. Have you configured the Tab options in “Tools/Internet Options”?

3. To open a link in a new Tab you should use “Ctrl + click”, which is the documented method, although your method should work. I tried it on my system and it opened the link in a new tab but it took considerably longer. OR, you can right-click on a link and choose to “Open in New Tab”.

The short of it is… the problem(s) you are having are certainly real. But the problem(s) are NOT inherent in IE8 but rather caused by a configuration you made, one or more plugin/addon, one or more system ‘tweaks’, or who knows what. The great folks here will offer their experience and knowledge to try and resolve the issue for you. However, to summarily blame it all on IE8 is rather foolish and non-productive.

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1. Why are you blaming IE8 (like many do for almost everything/anything Microsoft) when millions are not having your problem?

2. Have you configured the Tab options in “Tools/Internet Options”?

3. To open a link in a new Tab you should use “Ctrl + click”, which is the documented method, although your method should work. I tried it on my system and it opened the link in a new tab but it took considerably longer. OR, you can right-click on a link and choose to “Open in New Tab”.

The short of it is… the problem(s) you are having are certainly real. But the problem(s) are NOT inherent in IE8 but rather caused by a configuration you made, one or more plugin/addon, one or more system ‘tweaks’, or who knows what. The great folks here will offer their experience and knowledge to try and resolve the issue for you. However, to summarily blame it all on IE8 is rather foolish and non-productive.

I’ve got a pretty “plain-vanilla” configuration; I haven’t really done much or any configuration from the time of the upgrade from IE6. I haven’t knowingly, manually installed any toolbars or add-ins (like Google toolbar, etc.), other than allow Symantec Anti-Virus to do its thing (which was already installed).

I’m blaming IE8 because that’s all that has changed.

Using Ctrl+click opens tab, but then you have to click on the tab. Ctrl+Shift+click (according to Help) is supposed to open the tab and take you to it.

I’m not bashing Microsoft or IE8, nor am I saying IE8 is terrible or anything like that. I’m just offering my opinion, FWIW, to anyone considering upgrading.

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…
I’m not bashing Microsoft or IE8, nor am I saying IE8 is terrible or anything like that. I’m just offering my opinion, FWIW, to anyone considering upgrading.

It’s strange how different people can have such different experiences. I have installed IE8 on a couple of PCs and I find it much more responsive than IE7 or IE6.

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It’s strange how different people can have such different experiences. I have installed IE8 on a couple of PCs and I find it much more responsive than IE7 or IE6.

And just to counter that I ran IE8 for about a week and found it so sluggish that I’ve swapped back to IE7. The bonus is that I now consider IE7 to be “lightning fast”… this buzz will no doubt wear off in about another week.

Alan

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And just to counter that I ran IE8 for about a week and found it so sluggish that I’ve swapped back to IE7. The bonus is that I now consider IE7 to be “lightning fast”… this buzz will no doubt wear off in about another week.

Alan

Are you implying that IE8 isn’t the best and fastest program you’ve ever seen? And you expect to be able to show your face public?

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Mark,
The only problem that I’ve run into is that often, when I close a tab, or I close IE, I will get the message that “IE has stopped working”. In fact, when I close a tab, it has NOT “stopped working” and I can continue browsing. When I close IE and I get the message, I ignore it. I have CLOSED IE and OBVIOUSLY then it “has stopped working”. I have no idea why I’m getting these bogus error messages, but I simply ignore them.

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The only problem that I’ve run into is that often, when I close a tab, or I close IE, I will get the message that “IE has stopped working”. In fact, when I close a tab, it has NOT “stopped working” and I can continue browsing. When I close IE and I get the message, I ignore it. I have CLOSED IE and OBVIOUSLY then it “has stopped working”. I have no idea why I’m getting these bogus error messages, but I simply ignore them.

The error messages are probably not bogus. The text might be inaccurate. I’m pretty sure there is still clean up activity going on in the thread that each tab starts after the visual part of the tab is closed. That is probably when “IE stops working”. Many IE issues are because of addons such as toolbars. You could try disabling addons and see if the problem disappears. Then re-enable them one at a time until you identify the culprit. You can try to find a newer version or contact the developer to see if they are going to correct the problem.

Joe

--Joe

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And just to counter that I ran IE8 for about a week and found it so sluggish that I’ve swapped back to IE7.

Alan,

Just out of curiosity… do you have Spybot Search & Destroy installed on the machine that IE8 ran sluggish? The reason for asking is that it is a known issue that the “Immunize” feature in Spybot S&D causes IE8 to slow down considerably. Simply UN-Immunizing is said to resolve the issue. There were plenty of people that this applied to that also blamed IE8 but later realized that it was Spybot S&D that was the culprit.

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Alan,

Just out of curiosity… do you have Spybot Search & Destroy installed on the machine that IE8 ran sluggish? The reason for asking is that it is a known issue that the “Immunize” feature in Spybot S&D causes IE8 to slow down considerably. Simply UN-Immunizing is said to resolve the issue. There were plenty of people that this applied to that also blamed IE8 but later realized that it was Spybot S&D that was the culprit.

Thanks Jeff. I do have S&D (with immunize on) and hadn’t heard of that issue. I might give IE8 another whirl as you suggest.

Alan

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And just to counter that I ran IE8 for about a week and found it so sluggish that I’ve swapped back to IE7. The bonus is that I now consider IE7 to be “lightning fast”… this buzz will no doubt wear off in about another week.

Alan

I have just had a similar experience with installing IE8.

I checked here, of course, to see what pitfalls were out there for the non wary. I uninstalled Spybot to make sure that it wouldn’t interfere.

IE8 slowed the whole system down to a crawl. I was even having trouble with Firefox while IE8 was on the machine. Uninstall IE8 and all is back to normal.

I may have to go trawling for more information. But as it stands, no IE8 for me yet.

But in its defence, the uninstall process was eficient and painless. So there was some good there!

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I uninstalled Spybot to make sure that it wouldn’t interfere.

Uninstalling Spybot may not have resolved the slow down IF you did not undo Immunize before uninstalling it… btw, you do NOT need to uninstall Spybot completely; it is the Immunize module only that causes the slow down problem. I realize it is a hassle and you may not care to give it a try, but install Spybot S&D again, Immunize and then undo Immunize. Then go ahead and install IE8.

Also, as others have rightly written, certain Add-ons can and do cause problems due to their incompatibility with IE8. Only you can determine what Add-ons you have added or some application has added to your current browser (IE7?). Perhaps a perusal of those items in “Tools/Manage Add-ons” might shed some light in this area.

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Uninstalling Spybot may not have resolved the slow down IF you did not undo Immunize before uninstalling it… btw, you do NOT need to uninstall Spybot completely; it is the Immunize module only that causes the slow down problem. I realize it is a hassle and you may not care to give it a try, but install Spybot S&D again, Immunize and then undo Immunize. Then go ahead and install IE8.

Thanks Jeff,

I will try that and I will report back. My reporting back may not be until Friday because the machine I played with yesterday is being used today and tomorrow.

Johanna

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I have just had a similar experience with installing IE8.

I checked here, of course, to see what pitfalls were out there for the non wary. I uninstalled Spybot to make sure that it wouldn’t interfere.

IE8 slowed the whole system down to a crawl. I was even having trouble with Firefox while IE8 was on the machine. Uninstall IE8 and all is back to normal.

I may have to go trawling for more information. But as it stands, no IE8 for me yet.

But in its defence, the uninstall process was eficient and painless. So there was some good there!

I found this blog on ZDNET about IE8: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=754&tag=nl.e539

It recommends running this from the “Run” window: regsvr32 actxprxy.dll

I tried it, and IE8 seems to run faster, and so far I haven’t had any lock-up issues.

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I used to have problems with IE8 whenever I accessed ESPN’s main web site, which makes heavy use of Flash. The site would freeze up on me. I’d click links and remain stuck in quicksand. I found I had to disable the Adobe Flash Player Helper Add On to resolve this issue. I’ve managed to disable most of the Add Ons. I love IE8, but it takes a lot of trial and tweaking to optimize it. I’m finding that sites like ESPN display quicker than in IE6.

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Using Ctrl+click opens tab, but then you have to click on the tab. Ctrl+Shift+click (according to Help) is supposed to open the tab and take you to it.

If you typically want to go to the new tab immediately you can set that in Internet Options | General | Tabs | Settings and making sure “Always switch to new tabs when they are created” is checked.

Joe

--Joe

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If you typically want to go to the new tab immediately you can set that in Internet Options | General | Tabs | Settings and making sure “Always switch to new tabs when they are created” is checked.

Thanks. I never saw anything in Help that pointed to these options.

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I went from IE7 to IE8 and have never looked back … love it.

But I am just an interested user with limited tech/system knowledge so I get to wonder if most problems are not of our own making? We continue to try to ‘modify’ what is on offer to make it work ‘our way’. I had probs with IE7 which got solved by getting rid of add-ons and starting again at the basics. Seems to me that if IE8 (or other programmes, browsers etc) work well on the majority of pc’s then on the ones that do not work well it must be down to local setup?

I have to add that even Woody offers up ‘don’t install this or that’ when the vast millions of users who ‘just let it happen via Update’ continue to enjoy using their systems in total ignorance of what has been/not been auto updated.

Maybe it pays to be a bit ignorant at times and miss out on the ‘fun’ … but it would be soooo boring!
Happy modifying
Ron

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Seems to me that if IE8 (or other programmes, browsers etc) work well on the majority of pc’s then on the ones that do not work well it must be down to local setup?

Apparently you didn’t read my answer to another post. I didn’t make any configuration changes when I upgraded. The only extra toolbar I have is from Symantec’s Anti-Virus. So it is not like I’ve done alot of things and now it doesn’t work. Sometimes it actually might be the software.

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The only extra toolbar I have is from Symantec’s Anti-Virus.

Well, it might well be the Symantec toolbar if it existed before you upgraded to IE8. I often seen program installs warn to disable the antivirus before installation and I’ve had trouble a time or two with antivirus interfering with an installation. In fact, now that I think about it I had a problem a couple weeks back when a user brought me their laptop because they couldn’t install their McAfee upgrade. McAfee told me it was because it depended on Internet Explorer and didn’t play nice with IE8. I had to uninstall and take him back to IE7 to get it to work. Maybe your version of Symantec is like McAfee, and doesn’t work well with IE8.

Maybe if there’s a way to go back to IE7, disable or uninstall just the Symantec toolbar, then do the IE8 install, and see if IE8 works okay without it.

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Apparently you didn’t read my answer to another post. I didn’t make any configuration changes when I upgraded. The only extra toolbar I have is from Symantec’s Anti-Virus. So it is not like I’ve done alot of things and now it doesn’t work. Sometimes it actually might be the software.

Oops! Hey Mark … I was not directly replying to your post as you can see but rather making a general comment about ‘things that go bump in the night’! I can only be guided by the experts and my own observations and yes, it can sometimes be the software.
No offence meant.
Ron

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Oops! Hey Mark … I was not directly replying to your post as you can see but rather making a general comment about ‘things that go bump in the night’!

That’s OK, I understand. No harm, no foul!

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Just as a follow-up, I’ve never been able to resolve the tab problems. Everything will work fine for awhile, then I click to open a tab and it goes south again. It just freezes for awhile, then opens a new tab in the current window (but it is totally locked-up), and will also open the page in a new window. Other times, after not experiencing problems and just exiting IE normally, I look at Task Manager and there will be 2 or 3 instances of IE still there! And often in that situation, I can’t open IE again without deleting those processes!

I finally gave up installed Firefox.

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I finally gave up installed Firefox.

Not the best of reasons to install Firefox, but an excellent choice none the less!

Edit: Sorry, I’m told that it is nonetheless and not none the less.

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Not the best of reasons to install Firefox, but an excellent choice none the less!

After having used Firefox for a few days, I’ve got to say I’m impressed. Last week I had upgraded my internet connection from DSL to new FIOS (fiber optics, supposed to be 5x faster), and I can’t say I noticed much of a difference while using IE, but now I’m seeing quite an improvement with Firefox. Hardly any problems at all. No problems at all opening new tabs that caused IE to periodically lock-up, and I don’t seem to have any more of IE seemingly taking a 10-15 second time-out to think about what it needed to do next. I have had a couple of instances where Firefox told me it encountered an error and restarted itself (but both occurred on same website, so there may be something there). And Task Manager reports that when I close Firefox, all processes are closed; with IE I frequently had 3 or 4 processes that stayed open, using resources.

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…upgraded my internet connection from DSL to new FIOS…

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After having used Firefox for a few days, I’ve got to say I’m impressed. Last week I had upgraded my internet connection from DSL to new FIOS (fiber optics, supposed to be 5x faster), and I can’t say I noticed much of a difference while using IE, but now I’m seeing quite an improvement with Firefox. Hardly any problems at all. No problems at all opening new tabs that caused IE to periodically lock-up, and I don’t seem to have any more of IE seemingly taking a 10-15 second time-out to think about what it needed to do next. I have had a couple of instances where Firefox told me it encountered an error and restarted itself (but both occurred on same website, so there may be something there). And Task Manager reports that when I close Firefox, all processes are closed; with IE I frequently had 3 or 4 processes that stayed open, using resources.

I had to quit using IE8. Initially, it seemed to work pretty well (for several weeks). Then, (and I don’t know why) my PC would slow down so bad that I could get nothing accomplished. Found SEVERAL DOZEN (40-60) instances if iexplore.exe running on the task manager. Eating up all the resources. And not a single instance of the browser showing on the screens? Empty task bar…

I was using the plain vanilla version of IE8. No toolbars. No addons. IE8 is still on my system, but I changed my default browser back to Firefox. A real shame, because I was enjoying IE8 until it went nuts.

BTW, I regularly run Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D, and CCleaner to keep my system clean of nasties. While having the issues with IE8, I updated the aforementioned utilities to the latest and greatest versions and let them do their thing. Each found their normal allotment of items destined for deletion, but nothing that kept IE8 from running wild. And, I never allow any of the utilities to run at startup or in the background. All of the “automatic” features are switched off. The programs only run when I run them.

I realize that a separate instance of iexplore will show in task manager for each open tab. This was not the issue. I normally start a browser with three open tabs and this is precisely what IE8 was set to do. I’m not saying IE8 is flawed in any way. I’m certain it is working fine for the vast majority. I just have a knack for uncovering those (one in a million) random features!

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I had to quit using IE8. Initially, it seemed to work pretty well (for several weeks). Then, (and I don’t know why) my PC would slow down so bad that I could get nothing accomplished. Found SEVERAL DOZEN (40-60) instances if iexplore.exe running on the task manager. Eating up all the resources. And not a single instance of the browser showing on the screens? Empty task bar…

This is very similar to the problem I had. The only reason I never had as many instances as you is because IE would often lockup when I’d try to open a link in a new tab and I’d have to go to the Task Manager and delete all the instances.

I’d been using IE mostly because that’s what I’ve been using for years (and also somewhat because I hate change)! But I’m very happy with Firefox, and even if IE8 was cleaned-up so it would work properly, I didn’t see any “oh wow” features in it that would entice me back.

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Found SEVERAL DOZEN (40-60) instances if iexplore.exe running on the task manager. Eating up all the resources. And not a single instance of the browser showing on the screens?

If you have not opened that many tabs then some process on your system is opening the instances. Have you tried having Task Manager running to see what else is going on when the processes get staarted?

Joe

--Joe

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If you have not opened that many tabs then some process on your system is opening the instances. Have you tried having Task Manager running to see what else is going on when the processes get staarted?

Joe

Hey Joe.
Can’t imagine what could’ve been triggering so many instances of iexplore. I make it a habit of opening task manager frequently to see what’s running. Generally, there are 36-39 processes going. There was nothing different about the process list on those occasions, except all the additional iexplore(s)using varying amounts of memory.

I would have one instance of IE open on my desktop with perhaps 3-5 tabs; that’s it.

I could exit IE and it would have no impact on the number of iexplore processes running in task manager. In fact, the number of iexplore would grow on it’s own. I could not tell what was making it multiply. There would be ZERO applications running. Not a single browser of any kind. No office apps. Nothing! It was like “invisible popups”… There was no particular site that would trigger the ghost in the machine. My browser was set to open tabs for Yahoo!, Only2Clicks, and MLB.com. Simply reading the news on the Yahoo page would begin the onslaught.

The only way to regain control of the machine was to do a system restart. I could not “end” the processes any quicker than they would restart themselves. Whatever the problem is, it is IE8 specific. I have no such issues with FF.

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I could exit IE and it would have no impact on the number of iexplore processes running in task manager. In fact, the number of iexplore would grow on it’s own. I could not tell what was making it multiply. There would be ZERO applications running. Not a single browser of any kind. No office apps. Nothing! It was like “invisible popups”… There was no particular site that would trigger the ghost in the machine. My browser was set to open tabs for Yahoo!, Only2Clicks, and MLB.com. Simply reading the news on the Yahoo page would begin the onslaught.

The only way to regain control of the machine was to do a system restart. I could not “end” the processes any quicker than they would restart themselves. Whatever the problem is, it is IE8 specific. I have no such issues with FF.

Either a web page or another app is instantiating the processes. Have you tried something like Process Monitor to examine any of the IE processes?

Joe

--Joe

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Either a web page or another app is instantiating the processes. Have you tried something like Process Monitor to examine any of the IE processes?

Joe

I haven’t, yet. Thanks for the link. I will download the utility and give IE8 another go. I’ll report back in a day or two with results.

The most puzzling part or all of this to me is the lack of on-screen activity. While the appearance of the desktop and taskbar show no active programs, there would be dozens of iexplore processes taking over the machine and all its resources and multiplying. Very strange!

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Either a web page or another app is instantiating the processes. Have you tried something like Process Monitor to examine any of the IE processes?

It might well be a web page or another app initiating the processes, but how come it doesn’t seem to do it with Firefox? I don’t believe the processes are not being initiated anymore, more than likely there is a problem with IE8 not properly shutting-down these processes.

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It might well be a web page or another app initiating the processes, but how come it doesn’t seem to do it with Firefox? I don’t believe the processes are not being initiated anymore, more than likely there is a problem with IE8 not properly shutting-down these processes.

The problems that I’ve observed with the latest versions of IE are usually associated with addons. The misbehaving process does not quit or release its resources so IE is unable to terminate the process.

That is why the first recommendation for debugging in IE is always to disable addons.

Joe

--Joe

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The problems that I’ve observed with the latest versions of IE are usually associated with addons. The misbehaving process does not quit or release its resources so IE is unable to terminate the process.

That is why the first recommendation for debugging in IE is always to disable addons.

Quite frankly, it’s not worth the effort to me to fool with IE8 any more. It’s not like there was some feature that made it indispensible. I never considered myself “brand loyal”, it was more “resistant to change”. I’ve used IE mostly because it would have required an effort to switch to something else; and there didn’t seem to be any compelling reason to switch.

But IE8 changed that; it was more aggrevating to stay with it than to switch. And now that I’ve made the change to Firefox, there is no compelling reason to think about switching back even if the IE8 problems were all solved.

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I just found out that the tab-hanging problem I’ve been experiencing is not an isolated problem. In fact, it is well-known and rather wide-spread! There is this blog I just found at ZdNet: Microsoft: No IE 8 tab-hang fix in the works

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There will be a entry in the “Task Manager” for EACH tabbed or full session of IE that is open. If you crashed or aborted some IE sessions, then they may not have been cleaned up as they were not closed properly.

If one sessions hangs, and you keep trying to open others then they too, will be listed. So, it just may be, that you are not patient enough. IE 8 loads a lot slower on my XP and Vista machines than it does on my Windows 7 machines.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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There will be a entry in the “Task Manager” for EACH tabbed or full session of IE that is open. If you crashed or aborted some IE sessions, then they may not have been cleaned up as they were not closed properly.

If one sessions hangs, and you keep trying to open others then they too, will be listed. So, it just may be, that you are not patient enough. IE 8 loads a lot slower on my XP and Vista machines than it does on my Windows 7 machines.

Having “patience” consists of right-clicking a link then clicking “open in new tab”, then sometimes having to wait more than a minute. After that time, a new instance of IE is opened (that’s right), and the initial instance of IE is locked-up (it created the new tab, but never got any further). I’d then have to use Task Manager to close-down the locked instance.

I’m sorry, but I don’t have the kind of patience, at least not a dozen times a day.

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I’m glad I read through this entire thread before taking the plunge. I was all set to upgrade to IE8 but after reading this I’m glad I didn’t do it. I was hoping by now the problems would all be solved but that just doesn’t seem to be the case. Yet I am still concerned about running IE7 even though I have no problems that I am aware of other than its vulnerability to attacks by malicious viruses, etc.

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Many of us have been running IE8 for months with no problems. So long as you have a well tested backup of your C drive that you can recover to, I think you should go for the upgrade.

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Yet I am still concerned about running IE7 even though I have no problems that I am aware of other than its vulnerability to attacks by malicious viruses, etc.

IE7 still gets regular security updates. IE7 users may want to take advantage of new features of IE8, but they needn’t run in fear from IE7.

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I’m glad I read through this entire thread before taking the plunge. I was all set to upgrade to IE8 but after reading this I’m glad I didn’t do it. I was hoping by now the problems would all be solved but that just doesn’t seem to be the case. Yet I am still concerned about running IE7 even though I have no problems that I am aware of other than its vulnerability to attacks by malicious viruses, etc.

There will always be some who have problems of one sort or another. My sense is that IE8 is a good upgrade to make. I can give it a positive vote.

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I’m glad I read through this entire thread before taking the plunge. I was all set to upgrade to IE8 but after reading this I’m glad I didn’t do it. I was hoping by now the problems would all be solved but that just doesn’t seem to be the case. Yet I am still concerned about running IE7 even though I have no problems that I am aware of other than its vulnerability to attacks by malicious viruses, etc.

All the problems will never be fixed. That is the nature of software. I’ve had a much better experience with IE8 than with IE7 both at home & at work. If you upgrade to IE8 you can run it for a while then if you don’t like it uninstall it and IE7 should be restored.

Joe

--Joe

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All the problems will never be fixed. That is the nature of software. I’ve had a much better experience with IE8 than with IE7 both at home & at work. If you upgrade to IE8 you can run it for a while then if you don’t like it uninstall it and IE7 should be restored.

Joe

Joe do you mean by using the Add Remove Programs in the Control Panel?

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Joe do you mean by using the Add Remove Programs in the Control Panel?

Yes. It should be listed as “Windows Internet Explorer 8”.

Joe

--Joe

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Yes. It should be listed as “Windows Internet Explorer 8”.

Joe

Thank you

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Thanks all of you.

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Another question. I have an add on to spell check text boxes like this one in IE 7. I have checked the site and it says it is compatible with IE 8. So my question is will I have to download and reinstall it for IE 8 or will it carry over from IE 7?

Thanks

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Another question. I have an add on to spell check text boxes like this one in IE 7. I have checked the site and it says it is compatible with IE 8. So my question is will I have to download and reinstall it for IE 8 or will it carry over from IE 7?

Thanks

I think it will carry over but I’m not positive about that. I’d be prepared to reinstall.

Joe

--Joe

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I use the one that comes with Google toolbar and it works just fine with Windows 7 64 bit.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Thanks Dave but the one I use allows me to add words to its dictionary and I was hoping it would just carry over to IE 8.

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So does the one from Google.

Most of the IE type spell checkers, if installed when updating to IE8, then they should still be there when the install is completed.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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OK I have loaded it on the one machine I use most often. I have not noticed any great improvements over IE 7 or any great problems with it yet. However, I have discovered an annoying problem and hope there is a solution. If I try to edit a post at the end of that post in a text box like I am in now it jumps around and will not let me see what I am typing. Even if I scroll down to see it, it jumps out of sight as soon as I touch any key on the keyboard. This only seems to happen if the post is long enough to fill up the text box as far as what is visible without scrolling. If I try to edit the post somewhere other than at the end it appears to work fine so far. Has anyone else experienced this and if so is there a setting somewhere or a way to correct it?

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If I try to edit a post at the end of that post in a text box like I am in now it jumps around and will not let me see what I am typing. Even if I scroll down to see it, it jumps out of sight as soon as I touch any key on the keyboard. This only seems to happen if the post is long enough to fill up the text box as far as what is visible without scrolling. If I try to edit the post somewhere other than at the end it appears to work fine so far.

Do you use the “standard” editor or the “rich text” editor? Does it make any difference? You can switch between them using the icon with two arrows (somewhat similar to a recycling icon).

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Do you use the “standard” editor or the “rich text” editor? Does it make any difference? You can switch between them using the icon with two arrows (somewhat similar to a recycling icon).

I’m sorry I don’t know what you mean and I don’t see any icon that looks like what you are describing. Is there some way of checking to see what editor I am using?

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You know what? I just saw that compatibility icon, used it, and the problem went away.

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You know what? I just saw that compatibility icon, used it, and the problem went away.

That’s good to know!

For future reference, the “switch editor” icon appears on the toolbar above the compose box, all the way over to the right on the top line.

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That’s good to know!

For future reference, the “switch editor” icon appears on the toolbar above the compose box, all the way over to the right on the top line.

OH thank you. I see it now. I didn’t know I had to be inside a text box for it to appear. However, at the forum I spend a lot of time in it is not there at all.

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